The Flood of 2016

When we bought this house one of the selling points was that it was bordered by a creek. I had visions of sitting on a patio listening to the water rippling over rocks, and a neat place for the boys to play.

Living by any kind of body of water or waterway comes with it's own set of risks, as we were well aware. When we moved I asked specifically that no totes be put down in the basement. Then the garage filled up and it was easier for people to run totes down one set of steps than up two sets to the attic. We were told that there had never been any significant amount of water in the basement...a couple weeks should do no major harm, right?

The basement has an old rock foundation; we expected moisture, a trickle or puddle here and there. But no water higher than a tote! We should have read the clues better.

The rain started Tuesday evening. It has rained a lot this summer, so we thought nothing of it. Flash flood warnings went off on our phones around 10:00 that night. That was nothing new as well, it had been happening twice a month all summer. The alert system had become "the boy who cried wolf" to us.

I awoke around 6:00 Wednesday morning and started making my coffee. I checked my phone and noticed flood warnings had gone off at 1:00 and 3:00 am as well. That's weird, I thought. I sat down with my coffee.

Ten minutes after I had crawled out of bed, Eli messaged me from work (using Messenger, since texting is unreliable in this house). "I need you to look in basement when you get up."

I went to look in the basement. This is the photo I sent to him in reply:

Overnight we had become the owners of an indoor swimming pool, complete with floaties. Ironically, the tote with my rain boots in it was submerged under a foot and a half of water.

The tote in the center of this photo (that mysteriously lost it's lid) was holding a lot of my craft supplies. All my thread, my needles, my wood-burner, and so many things that would be destroyed if submerged. I stared at it helplessly, watching it bob around at awkward angles, praying it would stay afloat. By the time I decided what to do, the water had gone down about six inches.

Baby socks, rattles, and Christmas garland were floating. Those white things under water are the PEACE JOY LOVE bottles I painted for Christmas last year. I got the large push broom from the garage and started fishing what I could out of the water.

I called Mom, who said Dad would be over soon with sump pumps. Thank God for my parents!

I then found Eli's boots high and dry on a ledge above the basement stairs. I slipped them on and carefully stepped into the water. I inched close enough to grab my craft tote and move it to the garage. I also retrieved a tote that held our only copy of an old photo of Eli's grandparents, my grandparents' wedding photos and other pictures. It's nothing short of a miracle that these things were kept dry!

After they were safely removed to high ground I walked through the basement taking photos for insurance purposes. The water heater and softener still work, though we still don't know if the furnace works. Our insurance agent said we would not be covered anyway because we didn't add on the elective sewer-back up coverage. I'd like to know how they can tell where water actually comes in from during a flood.

The tote of baby clothes! This was a haunting image for me.

The door into the back room, and a couple things that floated back there.

The furnace.

I now know why they had the dehumidifier up this high on cinder blocks.

When Dad got here he got the sump pumps running. There are no windows that open in the basement, so the pump hose in the front room ran out the basement and garage doors. Dad disconnected the PVC pipes for the furnace exhaust and ran the hose for the second pump out of the basement that way. Eli now has plans to make a sump pit, drilling through the foundation to put a hose port in.

The boys found a salamander that was migrating with all water.

Eli came home early from work to help. After my Dad left we started hauling stuff out of the basement. For hours Wednesday afternoon I dunked salvageable things in antibacterial detergent, then laid them out on cardboard to dry while Eli wrung water out of clothes. Clothes and blanket totes were then lined up in front of the washer to be cleaned, dried, folded, and packed away in disinfected totes.

About two totes of stuff were thrown away, including Christmas ornaments, fall decorations, and battery operated toys. A few sentimental things were lost, like the popsicle stick houses my brother and I made. We decided not to attempt washing and drying the Christmas tree, so that is gone now too.

As we worked we noticed water creeping up our back yard. The creek behind our house feeds into Crane Creek, and that was swelling from the flood of water coming down from the county north of us. They had gotten 10 inches of rain the night before.

I got up at 3:00 Thursday morning to pump more water from the basement. I was down there for half an hour and didn't get ahead of it, so I went back to bed.

This was the back yard the next morning. We pumped water out of the basement every two hours Thursday, using a big push broom to feed water into the floor drain where the pump was. Monday, besides starting school, I need to go down to the basement and scrub the walls and floor down with a borax and water solution. It will both kill mold and mildew and prohibit their growth when left to dry on surfaces. Everything is smelling musty around here, and the air in the mornings is not fresh anymore but muddy smelling...kind of like camping on the Mississippi.

The "pond" in the yard was so beautiful, but sad too knowing the devastation that so many others went through because of the water. A few miles north of us a man was heading to work early Wednesday morning when he was washed off the highway by the flash flood. He was able to crawl on the roof of his truck and call 911, but by the time emergency crews got there he was gone. They found his body about half a mile from his truck.

Others homes had water inside them. Trailer parks were evacuated. Here are a few photos of the flooding. All these are within 10-30 minutes from us.

2016-17 Homeschool Year

It was like Christmas in March when the boxes and packages started appearing by the back door containing our school books for the next school year. I stayed on top of things this time and checked books off my list as they arrived. It's a bad day when you get down to lesson planning and discover you forgot to order a science book.

After loading all the books into one box (it's hilarious how Amazon sends massive boxes filled with bubble wrap with only three or four items on the bottom!), I got busy with other things and they sat in a corner of our old bedroom for a long time. I decided to pull them out back in June to start on lesson plans. I was breaking records, folks. The plan was to have the boys continue some school work intermittently throughout the summer to keep them on top of things. We did a few pages of math, a few reading lessons.... I got kindergarten and 2nd grade lesson plans updated in a timely manner. And then we bought a house, and I traded planning and books for spackling and paint and packing. I found myself two short weeks from our intended start date with the entirety of 4th grade's lessons unplanned, and a school room that looked like this. I didn't even know where all our school books were!

We now start school in less than 24 hours. The last two weeks have been a flurry of ripping out carpet, patching cracks in plaster, painting, hunting down books (and order forms to make sure I found them all!) and planning. (Not to mention flood clean-up, but that's a whole other post.) I'm relieved to say, I made it.

Many things aren't in the places they will stay, but are staying put until I decide where they should be.

The file cabinet will be painted black and distressed to match the desk and bookcase...someday. 

This wardrobe was left behind by the former owner. I'm using it for a school cabinet now, though it's not organized as I'd like. It's simply keeping books, papers, and supplies from sitting out everywhere. The very top shelf is for my journals and reference books. I sanded the inside of the right door and will paint it with chalkboard paint. On the left door I hope to attach a bulletin board and some kind of file baskets for papers. The left side also needs a couple shelves. That roll of white paper on the inside left is paintable beadboard wallpaper for the exterior "wardrobe makeover" that I have brewing in my mind.

*This photo shows how far I got painting the floor!

Lesson planning actually gets easier each year. This year I bought two lesson planners from Michele Quigley's shop (link), one for Aidan's 4th grade material, and one to rewrite 1st grade lesson plans while the books and changes I want to make are still fresh in my mind. I prefer these planners to any others I've found because they're completely blank to organize according to our needs, with a simple grid,a place for notes, and inspirational quotes on the bottom of each page spread. Each page spread is meant for a week of planning according to a 36-week school year.

Kinder and 2nd grade lesson plans only needed modification this time to include the books we've substituted (which is why they were completed so quickly). I wish I had separate planners for these grades, but I bought them as two planners bound together the first year I wrote our own lesson plans. (Homeschooling is a learning experience for everyone around here.) This planner has been through the trenches, having accumulated a disturbing amount of coffee stains. Coffee is a magic liquid that has kept this crazy train on the tracks.

My guide for this upcoming school year is the book Teaching From Rest: A Homeschooler's Guide to Unshakable Peace (Amazon link) by Sarah Mackenzie. (She is also the author of the blog Amongst Lovely Things and the Read-Aloud Revival. ) This little book has been like an epiphany for my approach to our homeschool. While I will probably always struggle against my nature to strictly follow lesson plans and be a drill sergeant, I now have the confidence and peace of mind to change things up or let things go when I think it'll be for the greater good. Curriculum is a tool, not a dictator, and our jobs are to teach our children to appreciate truth, beauty, and goodness. Give them that and they'll have an infallible guide throughout life.

Kindergarten Books

These are our Kindergarten books, for Liam. (I'm feeling really old this year.)

 

Most are from Our Lady of Victory School, though I decided to switch out OLVS' math for the math from Seton Homeschool because it's more comprehensive. We limited coloring books, using the ones we have for the stories that are in them.

I found an unused Saxon (KG) meeting book that we will all use come September to make a calendar and keep track of weather and our schedule. I bought these weather stickers from Amazon (link) to use on the calendar.

Also, I will start OLV's 1st grade religion book for Liam in Kindergarten, hoping to at least cover the "Primer" section of the book through the upcoming year.

We started out strong with reading this summer for both Liam and Gavin, but faltered in July. Gavin still struggles with it, so I bought "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" to use with both boys. They thought it was a game, and loved that they got to do it together. The Little Angel Readers that OLV starts them off with seem to jump right into reading, so I had hoped to start school prepared this time. I guess we'll just proceed as slowly as we need to. I will also use "Little Stories for Little Folks" from CHC for Liam, a birthday gift from his godmother. (Thank you!!!)

2nd Grade Books

These are our 2nd grade books, for Gavin.

Again, most are from Our Lady of Victory school, though I switched their reading books out for the readers from Seton. As a lover of books, I enjoyed OLV's primers, but for a young boy who is not fond of reading, I needed something less archaic with more engaging illustrations.

The top example is a Seton 2nd grade reader, the bottom is OLV's.

4th Grade Books

And these are the 4th grade books, for Aidan. Oofda. They take up just about half of the shelf space, not for the number of books there are, but because of their thickness. There are nearly 400 pages in each reading book.

All but reading (again ordered from Seton) are from Our Lady of Victory School.

I got heart palpitations planning the math lessons. I mastered Saxon math in 4th grade, let's hope I can again as a 34 year old!

I've combined subjects where I can for the boys, both to reduce my workload, and because they enjoy things more when they do them together.

Gavin and Aidan will do Latin together this year. Aidan did half the book last year, so that part will be review for him. Once they complete Prima Latina we'll move on to Latina Christiana.

Aidan and Gavin will also be doing history together this year. Our Lady of Victory seems to have history only every other year, and 2nd and 4th grades are both off years. So I decided to try Connecting with History from RC History (Roman Catholic History) this year. I'll be the first to admit that figuring out how to use this program is a complex mystery, and ordering the right books without blowing a budget and spending a small fortune is tricky. It took me a week of studying what info I could find online about it to decide how to go about that, and then hunting down the cheapest places to buy each book. (Some were bought used or discounted because of dented spines or other flaws.)

Connecting with History designates books for several different grade levels, some of which overlap levels; some are optional and are intended to enhance the students' understanding of certain time periods. Gavin is at the Beginner Level and Aidan at the Grammar level, so I chose books that overlapped both levels.  This year we will study Volume I, which is Ancient History. There are Core Books (in the row at the top of the photo) that act as the text books. The next two rows are Base Books that illustrate things mentioned in the Core Books. They will be used when referred to in a Core Book. The last two rows of books are supplemental reading. The program consists of ten units, and each unit has a list of recommended reading books as supplements. I chose one of the suggested books from each unit. Unit 5's book, "Hittite Warrior", is a Kindle book so isn't in the photo. A couple of the books have hands-on activities for the boys to try. We may be having a lunch of fish wrapped in grape leaves and feta stuffed spinach triangles this school year, while wearing our homemade togas and pallas.

This history program was compiled by Catholic homeschool moms who wanted a complex history that illustrated how Bible history confirms secular history, and how events in the secular timeline parallel the biblical timeline.

Gavin continues to plug away at his First Holy Communion Catechism. He has run into some difficulty memorizing some of the answers, and our crazy summer hasn't helped my involvement in his progression through the catechism.

And finally, an area I feel has been missing in the boys' education: knowledge of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In order to "attend" at Mass, you need to know what the parts of it are. It's even better if you understand the meaning behind the parts, the actions of the priest and altar boys, and the symbolism that is used. These are the tools we'll be using for that.

The Traditional Mass for Children DVD will give the boys the visual aspect of learning about the Low Mass (Latin). The books are both similar in explaining what is going on during Mass and why. The book Ever Ancient, Ever New: Traditional Latin Mass is unique in that it has a page with a picture cue describing all parts of the Mass and how they parallel the life, Passion, and Death of Christ. The original book was a children's First Communion book, out of print since 1925. It was found at a church sale, expanded, and reprinted thanks to the generosity of a M. Hernandez Aune.

And of course, we've been using the St. Edmund Campion Children's Missal that includes the book "Know Your Mass". This is the link to the book in PDF format.  We have the paper version but it's softcover and it has taken a beating. The boys love the illustrations and comic book look of it.

We hope to fill our year again with field trips...something I need to get on top of now before it gets too late.

Praying for a successful year!